10 Best Free Video Maker Tools & Apps for Stunning Videos

Wondering how to make a video with special effects & animations. Read this review of the top Video Maker Tools to pick the best Video Maker App to create splendid jaw-dropping videos:

Now, since businesses have digitalized, they have transformed their promotion techniques as well. They now require eye-catching images and videos to lure the maximum number of customers.

A report by Demand Sage states that 61% of the world population is using social media platforms today and they spend an average of 2 hours and 24 minutes on these platforms per day. Due to this reason, the spending on social media advertisements has increased a lot.

How to Make a Video – Top Tools & Apps

The number of social media influencers has also increased significantly in the past years. All these factors have led to a considerable increase in the demand for good video maker apps.

Today, the demand for music video maker apps is more than ever before. A video maker usually offers the following top features:

1. Audio and video capturing screen recording features.
2. Audio editing tools like noise reduction, inserting a soundtrack, fading in/out, and more.
3. Video editing tools like cutting, motion tracking, inserting a clip, background removal, etc.
4. Video effects like color changing, slow motion, and more.

No doubt, a video maker can enhance the attractiveness of a scene captured. If you want a video maker for your personal use, then a free video maker would be the best option. We have included some very useful free video makers in our list. They have applications in both education and professional settings. For more advanced usage, you can simply switch to a premium version.

How to Choose a Video Maker

Top points to be kept in mind while choosing a video maker:

• It must be easy to use and quick to respond.
• Check system requirements beforehand.
• It should offer a good set of features.
• It must deliver good-quality video in the end. Some apps produce low-quality final results, which can be very disappointing after all your hard work on video creation. So check for the video export resolution they are offering.

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In this article, we have provided a list of the best video maker tools. You will find video maker apps of all types, for example, simple apps with basic features, apps for creating educational learning material, and apps for advanced, Hollywood-style video editing.

Carefully go through the features and other details to choose a platform.

List of the Best Free Video Maker Tools

Check out these recommended video-making apps for selection.

1. Movavi Video Editor
2. DaVinci Resolve 18
3. Clipchamp
4. Lightworks
5. VSDC Video Editor Pro
6. Canva
7. HitFilm
8. Shortcut
9. ActivePresenter
10. OpenShot

Comparing the Top Video Maker Apps

Detailed Reviews:

#1) Movavi Video Editor

Best for being a powerful yet easy-to-use video editor.

Movavi Video Editor will be the most trusted and popular video-making and editing tool. It can be used for personal use, for businesses as well as for educational purposes. Founded in 2004, this platform has won many awards to date.

It has around 120 million downloads and 70 million users from 190 countries. The customer ratings about the platform are outstanding.

They accept payments through Visa/MasterCard, PayPal, American Express, Bank transfers, and Purchase Orders.

System Requirements

For macOS:

• Mac OS X® 10.15 or higher
• 64-bit Intel® processor
• 1280 × 800 screen resolution, 32-bit color

For Windows:

• Microsoft® Windows® 7/8/10/11 64-bit
• Intel®, AMD®, or compatible dual-core processor, 1.5 GHz
• 1280 × 768 screen resolution, 32-bit color

Features:

• Drag-and-drop video editing tools like filters, titles, transitions, and overlays.
• Tools for making precise cuts, AI background removal, noise removal, and color correction tools.
• Motion tracking, stickers, free music, and sounds.
• Picture-in-picture, slow motion, overlays, audio editing, and everything else you wish for in a video editor.

Pros:

• An intuitive, easy-to-use platform
• Supports 13 languages
• A 30-day money-back guarantee
• Digicert secure, PCI DSS-compliant platform
• 24/7 support
• A free trial for 7 days.

Cons:

• No free version

Why Movavi is the #1 video editor tool: Movavi Video Editor is loaded with features for video editing. The easy-to-use yet powerful tools that they offer including video overlaying, audio editing, free music and sounds, and many many more are making the software highly demanded around the world; and you can use the features in 13 languages.

You can read their customer testimonials to know how Movavi is helping its users create breathtaking videos.

Price: $79.95

#2) DaVinci Resolve 18

Best for being an all-in-one audio and video editing tool.

DaVinci Resolve 18 is an advanced video-making tools provider. The software offers you tools for professional editing, cutting, colors, fusion, audio posts, and more. It is one of the best free video-making software available today.

The best thing about this platform is that it is an all-in-one software for all audio/video-making tasks; and it works very fast, which makes it highly trusted by professionals.

Access video tutorials on how to use various tools offered by DaVinci Resolve 18.

System Requirements:

For Windows:

• Windows 10 or up
• Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 CPU

For Mac:

• macOS 11 Big Sur or up
• M1 Apple Silicon CPU (or an Intel Core i7 for older Macs)

For Linux:

• CentOS 7.3 or higher
• Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 CPU

Features:

• Fast, professional editing tools like inserting clips, overwriting, replacing, adding effects, and much much more.
• Fusion effects allow you to create cinematic visual effects like movies.
• Professional automatic dialog replacement tools, Elastic Wave Retiming, Automatic Ducking, and more useful features.
• Monitor remotely with the help of a Blackmagic ID and a session code. This allows streaming on multiple computers, iPads, and iPhones at the same time.

Pros:

• They constantly add new features for editing.
• A wide range of highly useful, advanced audio and video editing tools.
• Works fast

Cons:

• A bit difficult to use at the beginning

Why DaVinci Resolve 18 is at this spot in our list: DaVinci Resolve is a powerful platform for audio and video editing. Its free version is much appreciated, which offers a lot of basic and some advanced features. And I must say, their paid plan that is available with the one-time buying option is delivering great value for money. The software can be a great option for professional video makers.

You may have to go through a learning curve to get along with the software, but in the end, you will love what you create with all the tools that the software offers.

Price: Prices are:

• DaVinci Resolve 18: Free
• DaVinci Resolve Studio 18: $295

#3) Clipchamp

Best for being easy to use and offering a very useful free version.

Microsoft is a trusted, reliable name all over the world, which makes Clipchamp too a popular platform for video making. The application offers tools for video editing, rotating, trimming, cropping, recording through webcam, recording screen, video overlay, GIF making, generating subtitles, removing audio, and more.

There are several articles on utilizing Clipchamp’s diverse video-making features on their website. Visit their site to access several articles illustrating how to do good marketing for your videos.

System Requirements:

• Windows, Mac, or Linux operating system.
• 64-bit computer running a 64-bit OS and the 64-bit version of Edge or Chrome.
• 8 GB or greater RAM.
• A recent model of the Graphics card to ensure maximum benefit from the application.

Features:

• Simple camera and screen recording features.
• AI-based text-to-speech, automated captions, and other intuitive tools for creating videos.
• Offers a royalty-free asset library of over 1 million stock assets.
• Tools for adjusting audio, changing colors, adding branding, speed control, and more.

Pros:

• A free trial for 30 days
• A free version is also available
• Gives access to PowerPoint, Clipchamp, Word, Excel, OneNote, and other Microsoft platforms
• Easy to use, intuitive platform
• Up to 1 TB per person cloud storage
• 24/7 support
• Accepts payments through PayPal and Citizens Pay.

Cons:

• Available in English language only.

Why we like Clipchamp: Clipchamp is easy to use and full of good features. Plus, it comes in handy with the Microsoft 365 packages, which most people usually subscribe to. You will get a good value for money with Clipchamp.

Their free version is also good. It offers basic video editing features like trimming, positioning, enhancing, and more; and filters and effects like background removal, automated captions, and much more.

Price: Clipchamp comes with Microsoft 365 plans. So if you already have a Microsoft 365 plan, then you can just start using Clipchamp. Price plans offered for Microsoft 365 that allow access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Clipchamp, Outlook, and more platforms are as follows:

For Personal use:

• Microsoft 365 Family: $9.99 per month
• Microsoft 365 Personal: $6.99 per month

For Businesses:

• Clipchamp Standard: $3 per user per month
• Clipchamp Premium: $7 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22 per user per month

#4) Lightworks

Best for being suitable for beginners as well as professionals in the field.

Lightworks is a popular and highly trusted platform for video making. It has helped in creating some of the greatest projects to date. You can check their detailed system requirements and the full features list on their website.

The universal timeline of Lightworks is apt for handling footage of any size, frame rate, or quality; they offer 3D, light, color, and motion transitions, 27 color-enhancing filters and effects, useful presets and controls, and much more.

They currently offer 3 versions, out of which one is free. There are plenty of video tutorials on how to use various features of Lightworks.

System Requirements:

Operating Systems Supported:

• Windows 8 or higher
• macOS 10.14 or higher
• Linux-Supported Debian Distros
  • Ubuntu / Lubuntu / Xubuntu 20.04 and later
  • Mint 17 and later
• Linux Supported RPM Distros
  • Fedora 30 and later

System Specifications Required:

• Intel i7 chipset or faster, fast AMD chipset
• 4 GB RAM or higher
• Two high-resolution displays (1920 x1080) or above

Features:

• An advanced set of features for video editing.
• Plenty of professional-quality effects and adjustments.
• Motion Graphics, High-quality proxies, Advanced Transitions, Social Media Export, and much more.
• Integration with ioGates, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Photos, Pexels, OneDrive, and more platforms.

Pros:

• Easy-to-use tools
• 1500+ VFX Presets
• Suitable for beginners
• A free version
• Can be used in Bengali, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish languages.

Cons:

• If you’re using a mobile or tablet, please note that the free version is not available for those platforms.

Why we like Lightworks: More than 800,000 video editors trust Lightworks. They offer powerful video-making tools and easy-to-use features that make the software suitable for beginners as well as pros in the field.

Their free version is quite useful. It offers 720p Export, Advanced Transitions, Inbuilt Effects, Simple Colour Tools, Simple VFX, YouTube Exports, and more. For more advanced features, you can switch to the paid version, which is available at reasonable prices.

Price: Lightworks offers a free version. Their paid plans are as follows:

• Create: $9.99 per user per month
• Pro: $23.99 per user per month

#5) VSDC Video Editor Pro

Best for advanced video editing at affordable prices.

VSDC Video Editor has more than 5 million users. The platform keeps its features up-to-date according to the demands of its users, which makes it popular among video editors.

Watch this video illustrating an overview of VSDC Video Editor:

They are offering 2 versions, out of which one is free.

Here is a comparison of features between VSDC Free and VSDC Pro:

Check their site to get a step-by-step guide on how to start using VSDC Video Editor.

System Requirements:

• Intel®, AMD Ryzen™ or x86 and x64 architecture compatible processors running at 1.5 GHz or higher
• Intel®, AMD Ryzen™ or x86 and x64 architecture compatible processors running at 1.5 GHz or higher
• Microsoft Windows 7 or higher

Features:

• Plenty of video effects, filters, and transitions.
• Zoom, charts, 360 video editing, and color correction tools.
• Picture-in-picture effects, Split-screen effects, and much more.
• Lets you stabilize shaky videos, sync video effects to the beat, remove any background color, and much more.
• Tools for exporting files to social networks.

Pros:

• Available in Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Italiano, Turkish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Persian, and Urdu languages.
• Supports all popular audio and video formats and codecs.
• A useful free version.

Cons:

• Available for Windows Operating Systems only.

Why we like VSDC Video Editor Pro: VSDC free video editor is very useful for beginners. For more advanced usage they can switch to the Pro version. I must say, the set of features they are offering is quite appealing.

It has been named as one of the best video editing software by ‘The Guardian’.

Price: $19.99 per year.

#6) Canva

Best for being a powerful, free video maker.

Canva is probably the most popular video editing platform today due to its easy-to-use, innovative features. You just need to sign in to use the platform.

With Canva, you can collaborate on videos in real-time, edit them on any device, add audio from the 25k licensed tracks and 89k sound effects they offer, crop, resize, add text, overlay, control video speed, generate captions, sync the video to the background music, and more.

System Requirements:

• Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems are supported.
• For Windows users: You must have Windows 7 or higher.
• For Mac users: You must have a Mac OS X 10.9 or above.
• Runs on Android and iOS mobile devices too.
• At least 4 GB RAM
• 1024 x 768 pixels or higher screen resolution.

Features:

• Video recording and easy editing tools.
• Lets you record voiceovers, your screen, or a video with its built-in recorder.
• AI-based automated video editing.
• AI-generated avatars, that can be used for narrating your video in any language.
• Lets you store your finished videos in the Cloud, share them on social media, download them, or create watch links. You can even schedule your videos for sharing at a specific time.
• Supports .MP4, .MOV, .AVI, .WMV, .FLV, .M4V, .MPG, and .WEBM video file formats.
• MP3, WAV, OGG, AAC, and FLAC audio file formats are supported.

Pros:

• Compatible with mobile devices and all browsers.
• Works online as well as offline.
• Offers several customizable templates and video clips for creating and editing videos.
• Lets you share your content directly from Canva to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and more social media platforms.
• Keeps all your designs encrypted.
• Up to 1 TB of Cloud storage.
• 24/7 customer support.

Why we like Canva: 75 million+ users including Gucci, PayPal and Sony Music trust Canva. Its automated video editor is worth appreciation. It is an ISO 27001 certified and SOC2 Type I compliant platform with a dedicated security team.

Their free version offers an easy drag-and-drop editor, over 1 million professionally designed templates, over 3 million stock photos and graphics, 5 GB of Cloud storage, and much more.

I would highly recommend Canva for personal, educational, and professional use. It is one of the best free video maker tools for Windows 10, Mac, and Android/iOS users.

Price: Price plans offered by Canva are:

For Individuals and Teams:

• Canva Free: $0 per month
• Canva Pro: $14.99 per month
• Canva for teams: $29.99 per month

Canva is 100% free for Teachers and Schools.

#7) HitFilm

Best for offering powerful tools for VFX and video editing that work at lightning speed.

HitFilm is a powerful music video maker, which is suitable for beginners and pros who want to create a Hollywood movie. This free video maker app is trusted by over 6.5 million creators.

They accept payments through Credit/Debit cards and PayPal. You can start using the platform just by signing up and then installing it through the link they send to your email. Click here to access hundreds of video tutorials for using HitFilm.

System Requirements:

For Windows users:

• Microsoft Windows 11 (64-bit), or
• Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

For Mac users:

• macOS 13 Ventura, or
• macOS 12 Monterey, or
• macOS 11 Big Sur

6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 (2015) processor, AMD Ryzen 5 (2017), Apple Silicon (2020), 8 GB RAM

Features:

• Sync audio with the video
• Add subtitles to the video
• Many visual effects, including Lightning, Color grading, Motion tracking, Background changing, and more.
• Offers songs, sound effects, and templates for your content.

Pros:

• You can take anything from the professional stock footage, music, sound effects, and templates that they offer.
• Easy-to-use platform
• Fast playback
• Fast exporting
• A free version for beginners
• You can even ask for a custom solution for your brand.

Cons:

• Some users have reported bad customer support experiences.

Why we like HitFilm: HitFilm is an advanced video maker with music. They offer stock music, sound effects, and video templates even with the free plan. I must say, that HitFilm offers the best free video maker tools for PCs.

The platform is easy to use. The customer ratings for HitFilm are impressive. I would recommend it to beginners as well as Educators.

Price: Price plans are:

• Free: $0
• Creator: $7.99 per month
• Pro: $12.99 per month

#8) Shotcut

Best for being a powerful yet absolutely free video editing software.

Shotcut is a completely free, open-source video editor. The number of features that they are offering at absolutely no cost is truly praiseworthy.

The platform is intuitive and highly useful for personal, professional, and educational purposes.

System Requirements:

• For Windows users: 64-bit Windows 10 – 11
• For Mac users: macOS 10.14 – 13
• GNU/Linux users: 64-bit Linux with at least glibc 2.31
• CPU: x86-64 Intel or AMD; at least one 2 GHz core for SD, 4 cores for HD, and 8 cores for 4K
• RAM: At least 4 GB for SD, 8 GB for HD, and 16 GB for 4K

Features:

• Supports BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, TIFF, WebP and more image formats
• Audio and webcam capturing tools
• Audio volume controls, peak meter, waveform, spectrum analyzer, and filters like Balance, Band Pass, Compressor, Copy Channel, Declick, Delay, and many more.
• Speech compensation for video speed changes
• Several video filters, video fading, clip reversing, object motion tracking, and much more.

Pros:

• It supports a wide range of audio and video formats and codecs.
• Up to 8k resolutions supported.
• Intuitive interface.
• Their UI can be translated into Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Occitan, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai, Turkish, and Ukrainian languages.

Cons:

• Interrupting ads

Why we like Shotcut: Shotcut is powerful and free. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux devices and lets you translate the interface into 35 global languages. It is not as quick in responding as its competitors, but I must say, it is a good catch as it is easy to use and the set of features that it offers is commendable.

Price: Free

#9) ActivePresenter

Best for educators.

ActivePresenter offers you tools for creating Slide-based courses, Interactive Simulations, Assessments & Gamification, and Video-based courses.

Over 10,000 organizations trust it and have millions of users worldwide. Have a look at the main difference between different plans from here:

System Requirements:

• For Windows users: Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11 (only 64-bit (x64) is supported)
• For Mac users: macOS 10.15, macOS 11, macOS 12, macOS 13, macOS 14
• 2 GHz or faster processor with SSE2 (2.0 GHz multi-core or higher recommended)
• At least 4 GB RAM

Features:

• You can record videos by utilizing your screen, microphone, system audio, and webcam.
• Audio and video editing tools include cut, delete, crop, blur, change volume, change playback speed, and more.
• Audio effects like noise reduction and audio normalization.
• Spell-checker, dropdown menu creation, object flipping & rotating, and many more useful features.
• Lets you create different types of interactive assessments and educational games.
• Lets you record the screen, embed it into a slide, and edit it.

Pros:

• Quality support
• A free version for personal use
• Offers themes and templates for creating projects
• A wide range of features
• Lets you export videos in popular formats like MP4, AVI, WMV, WebM, and MKV.
• Backup capabilities that help prevent data loss
• A free trial for each plan
• They have a 7-day refund policy

Why we like ActivePresenter: ActivePresenter is a user-friendly and feature-rich video maker app. Educators will find this platform to be quite helpful in creating e-learning material, interactive assessment sheets, and much more, in very little time.

It is a free video editing software for PC. Their free version offers basic audio and video editing features but is not available for commercial use. They are offering volume discounts, which are as shown in the image below:

Price: Price plans offered by ActivePresenter are:

• ActivePresenter Free: $0
• ActivePresenter Standard: $199 per license
• ActivePresenter Pro: $399 per license

#10) OpenShot

Best for being a simple, free music video maker.

OpenShot is a free, open-source music video maker app. It is a cross-platform video maker app that offers tools for Video Trimming & Slicing, Animation & Keyframes, Video Effects, Slow Motion & Time Effects, and much more.

From their website, you can access OpenShot’s user guide where you will find articles about features, system requirements, installation guide, video tutorials about each feature, and much more.

System Requirements:

• For Windows users: version 7, 8, and 10+
• For Mac users: version 10.15+
• For Linux users: most of its distributions are supported
• 4GB of RAM
• Multi-core processor with 64-bit support

Features:

• Tools for editing clips, including rotation, trimming, snapping, and more.
• Lets you mix and edit audio.
• Offers over 400 video transitions.
• Easy to use, drag-and-drop features for video editing.
• Video effects include brightness, gamma, hue, greyscale, and more.

Pros:

• Available in 70+ global languages
• Simple UI
• It is a cross-platform video editing software. If you save a file in one OS, you can open it in another device with another OS.

Cons:

• Lacks advanced features for professional use.

Why we like OpenShot: OpenShot is simple and easy to use. It offers a good range of features for individual use and social media influencers. OpenShot is widely popular and has millions of downloads. It is always free to use, which makes it risk-free.

Considering all these facts, I would say OpenShot is one of the best free video maker tools for PCs.

Price: Free

How did we Select These Apps

We examined the following aspects of many of the video maker tools available in the industry, to come to a final list of the top of them:

1. The set of features they are offering
2. Price, free version
3. Quality of final results they deliver
4. Customer reviews, popularity
5. Supported devices
6. We have tried to include apps suitable for a varied range of purposes

Frequently Asked Questions

You can find a video tutorial on how to add music to your video from here.

Conclusion

Our study about the top apps used to make a video brings us to the conclusion that Movavi Video Editor is the most popular and trusted app in the line. It is powerful, feature-rich, and easy to use.

Next on our list is DaVinci Resolve 18, which is an all-in-one video maker app; then comes Clipchamp, which offers a good set of features and a very useful free version, followed by Lightworks, VSDC Video Editor Pro, Canva (that offers the best free video maker tools without watermark), then we have HitFilm, Shotcut, ActivePresenter, and OpenShot.

OpenShot and Shotcut are completely free, open-source platforms for video creation. All other video maker tools included in our list, except Movavi Video Editor, are offering highly useful free versions.

These free apps for video making can be used for personal, professional, and educational purposes. Check the features carefully before selecting an app, for example, you must check the video export quality they offer, before starting your editing work, so that you get good-quality results.

Further Reading =>> Comprehensive review of Movavi Video Editor

Research Process:

• Time taken to research this article: We spent 36 hours researching and writing this article so you can get a useful summarised list of tools with a comparison of the top 5 of them for your quick review.
• Total Video Maker Tools researched online: 37
• Top tools shortlisted for review: 10